This chart shows trends in total vehicle miles traveled (VMT) in the United States (expressed as a moving 12-month count) from 1971 to 2023. The long rise in VMT has seen three periods of flattened growth or decline, triggered by the oil price spikes of 1974, 1979, and 2008. The VMT flattening that started in 2008 continued long after oil prices recovered, largely because of an economic recession. Starting in 2012, VMT began rising again largely because the U.S. economy recovered while petroleum prices remained relatively low. The rate of increase slowed between 2017 and 2020. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, VMT in 2021, which reflects February 2020 through January 2021, was the lowest since 2002. VMT hasn’t fully rebounded to pre-pandemic levels in part because of the increased number of remote workers.

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